Meter switch



ZSheets-Sheet l Y Z a N July 15, 1929- H. D. WINTON METER SWITCH Filed May 21, 1925 [Imll mp; y MHIIIIII lllllllllllllllllllllIllllllllllllllllll'll Y July 16, 1929. H, D wlNTON 1.720.706

METER SWITCH Filed May 2l. 1925 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented July 16,1929.

UNITED STATES mariee HENEY D. WINToiv, or WELLESEEY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNCH To HERSEY MANU- EACTUETNG COMPANY, or SQUTH'BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CoEroEATioN or MASSACHUSETTS AMETER SWITCH.

Application inea May 21, 1925. Seria; No. 31,913.

This invention relates to meters and is illustratlvely shown in connection with meters adapted to be usedincon'junction with an alarm in order to indicate tothe user the completion of the passage .of a predetermined quantity of fluid through the meter;

In certain sections of the country, the water Supplied from the usual sources and, in some cases, from any available source, is excessively hard so that it has become customary to employ water softening apparatus not only for domestic installations but more especially for commercial plant-s where the hardness of the water is actually/harmful to the boilers andinachinery employed. Such apparatus usually comprises a tank containing suitable chemicalsthrough which a certain definite quantity of water may be passed before the' chemicals are either used up` or rendered ineffective so that they mustbe removed or renewed. In thelarger installations of such apparatusptwo similar tanks are usually provided so that the supply `of treated water need not be'interrupted and valves are provided to turn the supply from one tank to the other. A meter is customarily employed to measure the quantity of water which has passed throughthe soften-Y ing tank so that the user may knowwhenthe supply of chemical needsto be renewed.

Since Vsuch meters, as'usually constructed, must be inspected by the user in order to de- Atermine how much water has passed through and been registered, Van unnecessary burden 1s imposed upon the user and the danger 1nlcurred that readings will not be taken often enough to prevent passing the desired point so that water may be passed through the;

softening apparatus which will not'be properly treated. Accordingly,fan object of'the invention is to provide meter havlng an improved registering device constructed and `arranged to warn the user and yindicate the passage of" a predetermined quantity of Y fluid without requiring inspections of Athe To this end, a feature of the invention relates to an improved construction of the registeringdevice by means of'whichan electric circuit is automatically closed` when -a is sounded.

Vunderside of the hand,-and

as by a bell, that the softener tank must be refilled. In those installations where duplicate tanks are employed,the circuit may Aalarm circuit outside the meter may be connected. One of these posts, insulated from the casing, is electrically'connected to a fixed Contact positioned near the periphery of t-he dial of the 'registering device'. The latter device is furnished with a. slow-moving centrallyedisposed spindle, 'geared to move in fixed relation. to the other usual elements of the device. An arm, yfrictionally mounted- 'on Athis spindle, is electricallyu connected to the other post 1 and moves from a starting point inwhich it is manually placed by the user, into Contact with the iixed contact ter- Y mina-ting' the other side of the circuit. Suitable indicia upon an auxiliary annular dial enables the user to set the arm atv the proper starting point so Jthat the desired quantity of water willbe measured before the alarnr These andl other featuresof thefinvention will be better understood from a consideration of the following Specilication taken in connection` with the accompanying' drawings, in which v Fig. lis avertical section showing a water meter .embodying the alarm actuatingmechanism to be described;

Fig. 2 Vis a perspective view, with parts broken away, of the registeringdevice and its `protective casing; y

Fig. 3 is' a plan view of the same, with the cover removed and a part'of the dial broken away;` f i' vFig. 4 Vis a vertical section throughv the settable-hand andthe fixed Contact;

Fig. 5 is a detailin perspective showing the Fig. 6 is a detail of a fragmentof. the casi ingshlowing the insulated s ring contact at the inner end of one'of the'iune'I-iagj posts.-

CII

For the sake of illustration, I have shown my novel mechanism in a water meter of the positive displacement type, in which the measuring apparatus employs a nutating disc l0, operating within a chamber 12, inside aV larger casing 14 provided with an inlet 16, a screen 18, and an outlet 20. The disc l() is provided with a pin 22 arranged tolactuate a yoke 24 which is connected, through a train of reducing gears 26, with a shaft 28 which passes through a water-tiglit stutling box into a chamber-formed by an upwardly extending neck 30 having a shouldered rim 82.

In certain sizes of meters, it is possible, within the limitations of good design, to have the diameter of this neck 36 large enough to receive the' base plateV 84 of a standard sized lof the cover casing by means of which the latter may be bolted in place. The base plate 84 is screwed to .the adapteiuplate 42 and the `adapter plate is secured to the lugs (not shown) at the top oftheneck 80.

The registering device 36 of themeter illustrated is of the so-called straight reading type and is provided with a plurality of Vfigure carrying discs 50 positioned belowv an opening 52 (Fig. 4) in a dial 54. These discs are geared together in avv well understoodfashion so that each disc except the last is moved ahead one tenth of its periphery for `each rotation of thevdisc on itsright, thus making the row of figures which is visible through the opening 52 give a direct reading of the quantity registered. f The right hand disc, and through it all thediscs,'is drivenby a worin 56 which is connected through reduction gearing with a driving shaft 58 projecting down vthrough the baseiplate 84 and carrying a gear 6() which meshes with a gear 62 upon the upper end of the shaft 28. A proper choice of the gears 60' and 62 enablesv either slight corrections in themeter or a change of .the whole ratio between the meter lnieasurement and the dial readings.A A small hand l64, mounted on an upward extension ofthe shaft 58, above the dial 54, serves as a dig-it hand,

. one full revolution of which is equiva'lent'to` a single step in,.or one-tenthof, a revolution of the right hand orY last disc 50. Y Y

To make this meter capable of marking off the consumption yof an arbitrary quantity' of water,"starting with ythe registering device in any positioninwhich it may happen to be, and to relieve the user of the need of reading it frequently, a settable hand 66 is provided which is mounted on a slow-moving centrallydisposed spindle 68. This spindle is connected with the drive shaft 58 through a train spindle 68 inthe manner best shown in Fig.

4, by providing a flanged sleeve 72 which is secured to thespindle and pressing the hand 66 against the flange of this sleeve 7 2, washer beinginterposed. The hand itself is preferably made of a flat strip provided with an integral collar 74, and a coiled spring 76 surrounding this collar is held in place by means of a cupped member 7 8 which overlies and encloses the spring and is itself held in position by a pin passing through the end of the spindle. This makes a compact arrangement of neat apearance which allows the hand 66 to be arbitrarily positioned and repositioned upon the spindle 68 without danger of changing the amount of friction between the parts or of disturbing their proper relation. It will be noted that the hand is so positioned upon the spindle 68 that it is above the dial and out of the way so that it is not apt vto interfere with the usual parts of the registering device whether the latter is of the straight reading type herein illustrated or of the well-known round reading type. At the same time the hand is readily accessible for resetting. ACooperating with the settable hand 66 is an annular auxiliary dial 8O bearingA suitable indicia. under the guidance of which thehand may be moved away from the Y zero point'to a point corresponding to the quantity which it is desired to pass through before an alarm is given. The auxiliary dial 80 is supported upon a ring 82 of insulating material so that it forms a ledge aroundv the main dial 54, and, in order that the hand may not come accidentally' ,into contact with the dial 80, usually made of metal, a button or spacer 84 of libre, rubber or similar insulating material, is passed up into a hole in the Yhand 66 and then is-compressed to bulge its upper end to hold it in place. This button 84.A rides on 'the dial 80, until the hand reaches nthe zero point at the top of the dial, whereupon it. makes contact with a fixed contact 86 which is secured in the auxiliary dial 80 and is lifted slightly (.Fig.4) or vflexed by reason of its beveled terminal 88 of non-corrosive metal! depending beside the spacer button 84. Thetip of theiixed contact 86 is made of similar metal and the scraping contact caused by the turning of the hand and the slight lifting of 'its outer end as it comes 'into' Contact, makes doubly sure the comple-Y tion of the electrical circuit between the two.

The. lifting or hand 66k .is resisted bythe.

`be most convenient.

spring 76. T he end of the hand 66 is pointed at to facilitate its exact positioning with -respect to the dial 80. It will be .noted Vthat the button 84, riding on the .dial 80, guides the terminal portion 88 in a plane intersecting the fixed contact 86.

As has alrea-dy been suggested, the operation of an alarm may best lbe effected by the completion within .the meter itself of an electric circuit which `may includeaa battery 92 (Fig. and a bell 94 or other device positioned out-side `the meter wherever they may be easy to connect this out-side circuit with the circuit closing parts within Vthe meter casing, binding posts 96 and 98 have lbeen mounted :upon the lower half 38 of the cover casing. The post96 is secured directly to the metalcasingso that it is electrically connected through the base plate 34 of the registering device with 'the spin-dle 68 and hence with the settable rhand 66. vThe post 98, on the other hand, is electricallyr insulated from the casing by .a fibre washer 100 having an inwardlyextending flange andthe screw 102 which holds this post on the casing serves also to clamp an place and t'o connect with it a spring contact 104 (Fig. 6) which is insulated from the casing by a. mica spacer 106. A contact plate 108 is mounted upon the ring 82 of insulation in position for engagement with the spring contact 104 when the registering device is secured in place within the casing, thus facilitating the assemblage of the meter. This contact member 108 is connected to the fixed contact 86 by av wire 110 running along` a groove formed in the ring 82 of insulation beneath the annular dial 80.

Let us assume that the meter has been installed and is to be put in use, some suitable alarm circuit having been connected to the bin-ding posts 96 and 98. If it is desired to pass 18000 gallons through the meter be'l'ore the alarm is sounded, then the settable hand 66-will be manually rotated upon the spindle 68 until the point 90 coincides with the figure 18000 upon the annular auxiliary dial 80 and the water allowed to How. Although the friction between the spindle 68 and the handv 66 is not suliicient to prevent the setting of the hand easily, it is enough to insure continued forward movement of the hand with the spindle until this quantity of water has been measured and registered, the button 84 riding upon the dial 80. At that time, the beveled terminal 88 on the hand will meet and l ride over the fixed contact 86 with a sc raping In order that it may I,

.a rigid fixed contact carried by said dial and electrically "insulated from said registering device, indicia surrounding said dial arranged A in an'order increasing -in a direction `reverse to the direction of rotation ofthe spindle to indicate `the extent of the measurement denoted by ;rotation of said spindle 4to said contact from a predetermined point, a hand connected to said spindle pointing to said indicia electrically connected in yan electrical circuit and arranged to complete said circuit when brought against said fixed contact, and means for holding said hand in set position on said spindle constructed and arranged yboth to allow the ready repositioning thereof and Lto insure adequate electrical contact between said parts ywhenthe hand ,has reachedthe fixed contact. i

2. In a fluid meter, a registering device comprising a maindial and a spindle extending above said dial, a metallic annular auxiliary dial surrounding and insulated from said main dial, a fixed contact projecting above said auxiliary dial, an arm on saidV spindle extending over said annular dial, and means carried by the arm constructed and arranged to insulate said arm from the auxiliary dial and to guide its movement in a plane intersecting the fixed contact.

3. In a fluid meter, a spindle having a shoulder, a hand loosely mounted on said spindle and resting on said shoulder, a coiled spring surrounding said spindle with one end bearing against said hand, a cupped member overlying and enclosing said spring, and means for holding said cupped member in a position to compress the spring and frictionally hold the hand against the shoulder of the spindle, whereby the hand Will be caused to move with the spindle but may be arbitrarily positioned manually with respect thereto. y 4. In a fluid meter, a registering device including a dial, a central spindle projecting above said dial, indicating devices associated with said dial, a ledge around part of said dial, and means to complete'an electrical cir'-` cuit after a predetermined angular movement of the spindle, said means comprising a hand frictionally mounted on said spindle above the indicating devices and having an insulatisoing button near its end riding' on said ledge, Y

of said casing,` one of said posts being insulated from said casing and provided With a contact part projecting vinside the casing,

a registering device removable from saidv casing and including mechanism to complete an electrical circuit to denote the measurement of a predetermined quantity of fluid, said mechanism including an independentJ contact element insulated fioin parts of the mechanism, and a resilient member-secured to one of said contact members and proj ectiiig from the inside of the casing constructed and arranged to cooperate with said independent contact element to complete a circuit from the contact element to the insulated binding post `When the casing and the registering device are secured in position on the meter.

6. In a fluid meter, registering means comprising a dial, a moving indicator and a rotating part extending through the dial to a upon said rotating part of said registering means, said settable contact arm overhanging the ledge and having` an insulating spacer riding on the ledge to prevent electrical contact between the arm and the ledge and constructed and arranged to engage ythe fixed contact.

7 In a fluid meter, a metallic casing for a circuit closing device, a binding postin said casing, another binding post in said casing and insulated therefrom, and a spring contact piece secured to saidinsulated binding post inside said casing and insulated from the casing.

8.' In a fluid meter, a hand for a circuit closing device having a rotatable spindle, said hand being made of a flat strip having a collar at its inner end to surround said spin- Idle, a spacer button of insulating material near the outer end of the hand projecting beyond the flat surface thereof, and a beveled Contact piece on the outer end of said hand adjacent to said button and projecting a less distance than does said button.

In testimony whereof I have signed my naine to this specification.

HENRY D. WiNToN. 

